Verbolten? – Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2012 Roller Coaster

I’ve been a bit out of the loop lately with work and the research that I’ve been doing for some new projects. Last week, plans and a name for Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s 2012 project were uncoverd. The name Verbotlen was trademarked by the park. Fittingly, “verboten” without the ‘L’, translates to “forbidden” which aligns with the rumored Autobahn ride through the Black Forest theme.

Blueprints Show Verbolten’s LayoutBGWFans posted images showing the layout for the 2012 coaster and then pulled them down. They’re still up at ScreamScape. From what I can tell, the ride will leave the station and enter the ‘event building’ we’ve heard about for months. Some are comparing the indoor portion to Revenge of the Mummy, but it’s hard to know exactly what will happen in there. Then it will pay homage to the Big Bad Wolf with a dive to the Rhine River after passing through the covered bridge pictured above. It looks to be a highly-themed adventure and I can’t wait for more details.

Zierer to Design Verbolten
Also, ScreamScape reported via BGWFans via ThemeParkReview that the new coaster will be designed by Zierer. A user in the message board there gave a few bits of information about the new ride. He must have some inside knowledge or a reliable source as most who just through out information like that get ignored or even attacked. Most figured that the new multi-launched roller coaster would be designed by Intamin like Busch Gardens Tampa’s Cheetah Hunt as the two parks often install similar coasters. It seems weird to me that SeaWorld Parks would have an Intamin designed multi-launcher in Tampa, a Mack launcher in San Diego, and a different designed launcher in Virginia. Maybe the parks don’t coordinate as much as we think or the different designers have specific solutions that better fit exactly
what the parks are looking for.

A Car-themed Forbidden Forest Ride with a Vertical Launch?
Zierer’s most common coasters are small family coasters like BGT’s Air Groverand BGW’s Grover’s Alpine Express. Their only launch coaster that I’m aware of isWicked at Lagoon. People seem to think that the Zierer design rumor could give credence to another rumor making the rounds on the Web. There’s been a rumor that Busch’s new coaster will have a vertical launch. I’ve also heard mention of a something similar to Thirteen’s freefall drop platform.